


Stay With Me

by The_Grodyverse



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Ending, Angst, Death, Drabble, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Richie stays in Neibolt, Serious Injuries, What-If, hanbrough if you squint, slight benverly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:34:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23473312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Grodyverse/pseuds/The_Grodyverse
Summary: Richie had lost Eddie for 27 years, had spent them feeling like he had no heart beating in his chest, and he will never leave him again.An alternate ending to It Chapter 2.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	Stay With Me

“Richie, honey, he’s dead.”

No words, just a press of lips. No. That’s not right. That can’t be right. He turns back and sees the eyes, glassy, staring. They burn into his mind and he feels his heart climb up his throat as if he would retch it out. Instead he reaches out, tenderly, and pulls the body into his arms, tucking his face into the crook of his neck. He holds him like he always wanted to,  _ like he never did,  _ and weeps. No, no,  _ they have to be wrong.  _ Voices are fuzzy around him.

“We have to go-”

A hand touches his shoulder and he immediately lashes out, hearing a crunch. Bev shrieks as Bill stumbles back, clutching his face.

“Richie!!”

He can’t even feel guilt for hurting his friend, immediately turning to clutch Eddie back against him. 

“You want me to leave him down here?” He hisses “Are you fucking nuts?! We have to get him out of here, what the fuck is wrong with you?!”

“Richie-” Bill’s voice is muffled behind his hand, blood dripping over his lips “I’m sorry-we have to get out of here, he’s gone-” he is interrupted by a great rumbling above them that steals all their breaths away. As soon as they snap back to attention Mike and Ben are moving forward, grabbing him, trying to pry him off Eddie.

“No!” He screams, fighting them “No! Eddie!!” A sharp crack rings out, followed by a short scream from Bev. Ben’s hands are immediately off him and he all but falls forward onto the hard stone floor. 

“Shit, Ben!” Ben is crouched over Bev, having protected her from the falling rocks. She is unharmed but his arm is now sporting a deep gash 

“Shit!!” Bill spits again. He is moving towards Richie, whose right arm is still in Mike’s grip. The floor beneath them is shaking, dust falling from the ceiling like rain, covering them all in a fine layer of grit “We need to get out of here right fucking now!” 

It happens in an instant, a huge section of the protesting ceiling giving way all at once. It seems to fall towards them in slow motion, eerily quiet for the seconds before it hits.

“Mikey!” The hands on Richie’s arm are ripped off of him as Bill pulls their owner away and all he can hear after is the horrible crashing. He wraps his body tightly around Eddie’s as if he can protect him. The noise around him is deafening, so intense he whimpers into Eddie’s hair. Finally it quiets and when Richie can bring himself to open his eyes all he can see is a wall of rocks. What light there was in the cave has drastically dimmed. His ears are ringing, mouth and nostrils coated with dirt. Voices begin to filter in in choppy sentences.

“Richie-Richie!!”

“Can’t leave him-”

“Nothing we can do-”

“-get out!”

“Richie!!!”

“Just go.” He whispers, trembling “Go!” he repeats, yelling as loud as he can. There is silence on the other side before a voice speaks, thick with tears.

“We love you Richie.” He can’t respond, but feels a weight lift off his chest when he hears nothing else from the others. Gently he adjusts himself and Eddie in their new cramped space. His arms wrap around his waist, pulling him to his chest. He is still warm, but so horribly, horribly limp. He had not moved and inch since they had come back from crushing the heart of Pennywise, not flinched. Richie lets out a sob, burying his nose again into the crook of his neck. There is a growing damp feeling on his chest and with a lurch he realizes it’s blood,  _ Eddie’s blood.  _ The jacket he had tried to use to staunch his wound with,  _ desperately, pathetically,  _ had disappeared in the chaos. Eddie’s chest is directly against his now, wound still seeping. 

“Eddie…” He whimpers “I’m sorry.” It was him who had talked Eddie down here. Eddie had been hurt saving him _ ,  _ had been  _ killed  _ he reminds himself, letting out another shuddering sob. “How the fuck did you ever think you weren’t brave?” He whispers. He didn’t know what exactly happened, remembered saving Mike, opening his big mouth and then...the lights. He feels like doubling over and emptying his stomach at the thought of them. But Eds… he had saved him. When he opened his eyes he was there, smiling, almost giddy. It had only lasted a few seconds but Richie thinks it may have been close to some of the best of his life, knowing Eddie had been brave, for  _ him,  _ had been so happy. It was all ripped away so quickly. 

In the lights, those fucking lights, he had seen things. Things even now he couldn’t comprehend, terrors beyond what his human mind could know. All that was left of his visions was a deep primal fear, like a mouse hooked helplessly on a cat’s claws. And the whole time whispered in his ear was a warning. If you keep fighting, if you resist me, you will feel suffering beyond what you thought you could ever know. Richie had thought he couldn't imagine anything worse than the lights, that was until the moment Eddie’s warm blood had splashed across his face. Eddie had whimpered his name and that’s when he knew exactly what the clown had meant, how it would destroy every bit of him. He leans Eddie back on the gently shaking rocks, taking his head in his hands and looking into his face. The eyes are still open, blank, staring and Richie wants to puke. He knows this is the hell It meant for him. He swallows the bile down, physically forcing his voice from his throat. 

“Eddie…” he croaks “Eds. I know you c-can’t hear me…” he succumbs to another sob, hanging his head as he fights for his lungs to work again. “B-but I have to tell you. I have to….say-” He swallows around the barbed lump in his throat “I love you.” he barely whispers. It hangs in the air, mixing with the dust and dirt. He is tense, as if the words will manifest and rip into his body like the claw had Eddie’s. Nothing happens but a light shower of dirt breaking form the ceiling, and he surges on “I’ve loved you since I was ten fucking years old. I never stopped. All these years not knowing… it was still you. Always.” He wants to look away from the glassy eyes, but forces himself to keep looking at what is left of the only person he has ever truly loved. He slowly leans in until their foreheads are touching and then closes his eyes. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to..but you make it so hard. I just….I couldn’t stop from loving you like this.” No response, no pushing him away in disgust, of course not, but he still feels like there should be. 

Something strikes him in the back, hard, and he cries out. The pain radiates across his body and for a moment he can’t hold himself up, collapsing hard onto the cold rocks beneath him. He groans, struggling, flinching as smaller debris hit him. For a moment he fears he won’t be able to get up, each movement causes all his muscles to spasm in agony. He finally raises himself enough to gather Eddie’s body back into his arms and presses them as close to the wall as possible, breathing hard. The noise around them is almost unbearable, so loud it feels almost physically painful as it vibrates through him. A moment of clarity washes over him. He is going to die here. 

“This is it Eds.” he whispers “The end of the line.” He tucks his head into his shoulder, breathing in deeply. “I’m glad.” he finally says “I don’t want to fucking keep living on in a world where you’re gone. I can’t. This….this is better.” His tears are still dripping steadily down his face, but his breathing has evened out, oddly calm. The hand not holding Eddie against him runs through his perfectly gelled hair, gently. Even styled it is as soft as he had imagined, had dreamed. 

“I won’t leave you Eddie.” He says “Never again.” He clings tight to the body that used to be his first love, his only love, as the world crashes around them. He closes his eyes, and he waits. 

**Author's Note:**

> I may be a one trick pony but I'm going to keep doing that trick until someone stops me. Cry with me bitches.


End file.
